Jeff Guillot

Half full: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, and the clubhouse turn of another exciting week of socioeconomic progress. Checking in: It’s April 17 out there, and first off we’d like to welcome new newsletter subscribers Zachary, Estelle, James, Brian, Lisa and Francesco. If any of you had two sons of Chulabi nobleman Kiya Afrasiyab murdering Hasan II in his bathtub – effectively ending Mazandaran’s Bavand dynasty – on this date in 1349, well done!…

By JEFF GUILLOT // The face of our region is changing, both politically and socioeconomically, and it’s time we had some tough conversations. So, let’s get right to it: Long Island lawmakers and stakeholders should embrace state legislation that allows undocumented people to obtains driver’s licenses. Let’s throw the morality and racial politics out of the conversation – our region has dealt with enough of that. I could wax poetic about fundamental fairness and social…

By PHIL RUGILE // With the Amazon pullout from Queens, politicians and businesspeople are apoplectic about our future. Well, hold on – when life throws you lemons, time to make lemonade. Maybe with vodka. The reality is, we are still in growth mode and we need innovation spaces more than ever. Labor Department data shows an overall increase in jobs, though many business owners will tell you finding talent is their biggest growth challenge –…

By JEFF GUILLOT // It’s been roundly embraced by progressive presidential candidates and panned by conservatives as a pipe dream dripping with bongwater. But regardless of your position on the package of legislative initiatives collectively known as the Green New Deal, Long Island’s longstanding commitment to environmental protection could put us in a unique position to reap the benefits of this dialogue. Regardless of whether or not this idea ever finds its way to the…

Flake out: That’s two down and just 49 1/2 to go, dear readers, as another productive workweek concludes and 2019 gains steam – and with barely a snowflake in sight, this is already shaping up as the quietest winter in recent memory. Jinx! Winter is coming: Actually, there is a little snow in our weekend forecast, and that’s not a bad thing – not only is the white stuff a critical part of natural…

By JEFF GUILLOT // One thing I drill into the collective consciousness of students every semester is that the role of the federal government in your daily life is minimal, compared to state and local governments. In normal, peaceful times, the average citizen only interacts with the federal government if they are interacting with the military or the immigration system. Virtually every other element of your day-to-day interactions with government are at more localized levels,…

By JEFF GUILLOT // Congratulations are due to my millennial-aged comrades. In 2018, you outshined every previous dismal midterm voter turnout and showed up in record numbers. It was clear that people wanted change, and young voters – who ideologically lean to the left – helped elect a Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives that is the most diverse in history, and a record-shattering Democratic majority in the New York State Senate that…

By GREGORY ZELLER // There had to be a better way. That was the thinking shared by Jeff Guillot and Alex Voetsch. Both worked in political capacities – Guillot for a Manhattan-based consultancy and Voetsch for the New York State Democratic Lawyers Council, a voting-rights and election-protection advocate. And both felt constrained by their respective “establishment entities,” as Guillot put it. They met as fellows of the New Leaders Council, a national nonprofit offering training…